SANS NewsBites is a semiweekly high-level executive summary of the most important news articles that have been published on computer security during the last week. Each news item is very briefly summarized and includes a reference on the web for detailed information, if possible.

Spend five minutes per week to keep up with the high-level perspective of all the latest security news. New issues are delivered free every Tuesday and Friday.

Volume XVIII - Issue #14

February 19, 2016

California leads the way in cybersecurity, again, with the Attorney
General's declaration of what constitutes a minimum standard of due
care. See the first story in Top of the News.

Hands on exercises are the only effective way to develop important
skills in security. See the last story (about PIVOT) for a way to get
access to high quality exercise and a free subscription to NetWars
Continuous.

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STORM CENTER TECH CORNER

Protect Your Network from Insider Threats: Several high-profile data breaches have reminded us that devastating attacks do not always involve scheming criminals and sophisticated malware. Sometimes it's your own employees or trusted vendors who are exposing confidential data, whether they mean to or not. To learn more, download "Combating the Insider Threat," an e-book brought to you by Lancope. http://www.sans.org/info/183505

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TOP OF THE NEWS

A report from the California Attorney General's Office includes recommendations for organizations to protect their systems from breaches. The "report clearly articulates basic steps that businesses and organizations must take to comply with the law, reduce data breaches, and better protect the public and our national security." The report recommends organizations adopt the Center for Internet Security's Critical Security Controls as the start of a comprehensive information security program. The Attorney General's Office stated "not doing so would be indicative of an organization's failure to provide reasonable security." -http://www.turlockjournal.com/section/15/article/31313/[Editor's Note (Pescatore): California led the way in requiring data breach notification, nice to see them taking a lead role in recognizing the Critical Security Controls as widely supported basic security hygiene. (Northcutt): Here is the source document: -https://www.oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/dbr/breachreport2016.pdf A number of scholars, many of them from the SANS Technology Institute, are researching various aspects of implementing the 20 Critical Controls, here is where some of them are published and more of them are in the pipeline, check back often: -https://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/critical SANS offers a course as well that is well attended, up to date and scoring well: -https://www.sans.org/course/implementing-auditing-critical-security-controls]

President Obama Names Cyber Commission Heads (February 17, 2016)

The White House has announced the appointment of former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon to chair the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity; former IMB CEO Sam Palmisano has been appointed vice chairman. The Commission will likely have additional presidential and congressional appointees. The commission's "goal is to review and issue policy recommendations to help the government, private sector, and general public beef up digital security while preserving privacy." -https://fcw.com/articles/2016/02/17/white-house-cyber-commission.aspx

SimpliSafe wireless home alarm systems are vulnerable to replay attacks. The system's keypad uses the same, unencrypted personal identification number each time it sends a message to the base station. Attackers could sniff the code, then replay it to trick the system into thinking that a home is secured when there is actually a break-in occurring. The microcontroller chips used in the system are write-once, which means they cannot be updated with firmware. SimpliSafe is used in more than 200,000 homes. -http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/02/hopelessly-broken-wireless-burglar-alarm-lets-intruders-go-undetected/-http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/17/simplisafe_wireless_home_alarm_system_cracked/[Editor's Note (Honan): So now we have a security product that really enables backdoors into security. :) (Murray): The role of home security systems is more to take one off the target of opportunity list than to actually deter. It is easier for the burglar to avoid one of these 200K homes than to defeat their security system. Really attractive targets are using industrial grade security systems. ]

Researchers Say They Breached Air Gapped Computer (February 16, 2016)

Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Technion Research and Development say they managed to break into an air-gapped computer. The researchers measured radio waves emitted by the computer and with that information, were able to discern a cryptographic key. For the attack to be successful, would-be cyberintruders would need to be within several meters of the targeted device and to have US $3,000 worth of equipment. However, the researchers required only a few seconds of monitoring to gather the information they needed. -http://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2016/0216/How-researchers-hacked-a-computer-that-wasn-t-connected-to-the-Internet[Editor's Note (Williams): While this isn't the sort of attack we should expect to see frequently, it is something we need to add it to our threat models (DoD has for years with the TEMPEST program). Many organizations have leased office space and share internal office walls with untrusted parties. If the researchers can penetrate a 15cm wall and get data several meters away with a $3000 rig, imagine what a well-funded adversary can achieve.]

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John Pescatore was Vice President at Gartner Inc. for fourteen years. He became a director of the SANS Institute in 2013. He has worked in computer and network security since 1978 including time at the NSA and the U.S. Secret Service.

Shawn Henry is president of CrowdStrike Services. He retired as FBI Executive Assistant Director responsible for all criminal and cyber programs and investigations worldwide, as well as international operations and the FBI's critical incident response.

Suzanne Vautrinot was Commander of the 24th Air Force (AF Cyber) and now sits on the board of directors of Wells Fargo and several other major organizations.

Ed Skoudis is co-founder of CounterHack, the nation's top producer of cyber ranges, simulations, and competitive challenges, now used from high schools to the Air Force. He is also author and lead instructor of the SANS Hacker Exploits and Incident Handling course, and Penetration Testing course.

Michael Assante was Vice President and Chief Security Officer at NERC, led a key control systems group at Idaho National Labs, and was American Electric Power's CSO. He now leads the global cyber skills development program at SANS for power, oil & gas and other critical infrastructure industries.

Mark Weatherford is Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at vArmour and the former Deputy Under Secretary of Cybersecurity at the US Department of Homeland Security.

Stephen Northcutt teaches advanced courses in cyber security management; he founded the GIAC certification and was the founding President of STI, the premier skills-based cyber security graduate school, www.sans.edu.

Dr. Johannes Ullrich is Chief Technology Officer of the Internet Storm Center and Dean of the Faculty of the graduate school at the SANS Technology Institute.

William Hugh Murray is an executive consultant and trainer in Information Assurance and Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Sean McBride is Director of Analysis and co-founder of Critical Intelligence, and, while at Idaho National Laboratory, he initiated the situational awareness effort that became the ICS-CERT.

Rob Lee is the SANS Institute's top forensics instructor and director of the digital forensics and incident response research and education program at SANS (computer-forensics.sans.org).

Tom Liston is member of the Cyber Network Defense team at UAE-based Dark Matter. He is a Handler for the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center and co-author of the book Counter Hack Reloaded.

Jake Williams is a SANS course author and the founder of Rendition Infosec, with experience securing DoD, healthcare, and ICS environments.

Dr. Eric Cole is an instructor, author and fellow with The SANS Institute. He has written five books, including Insider Threat and he is a founder with Secure Anchor Consulting.

Mason Brown is one of a very small number of people in the information security field who have held a top management position in a Fortune 50 company (Alcoa). He leads SANS' efforts to raise the bar in cybersecurity education around the world.

David Hoelzer is the director of research & principal examiner for Enclave Forensics and a senior fellow with the SANS Technology Institute.

Gal Shpantzer is a trusted advisor to CSOs of large corporations, technology startups, Ivy League universities and non-profits specializing in critical infrastructure protection. Gal created the Security Outliers project in 2009, focusing on the role of culture in risk management outcomes and contributes to the Infosec Burnout project.

Eric Cornelius is Director of Critical Infrastructure and ICS at Cylance, and earlier served as deputy director and chief technical analyst for the Control Systems Security Program at the US Department of Homeland Security.

Alan Paller is director of research at the SANS Institute.

Brian Honan is an independent security consultant based in Dublin, Ireland.

David Turley is SANS operations manager and serves as production manager and final editor on SANS NewsBites.

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